The Summer Rally Takes a Breather

The Markets' Mood

THE STOCK MARKET, as represented by the New York Stock Exchange Composite Index, has risen for 12 of the past 15 weeks, not including this one. With a streak like that, it's not too surprising that the pace of the gains has tailed off, and indeed the market has not really made much net progress since mid-June.

What this has done is shift the summer rally into neutral while traders digest the gobs of conflicting economic and fundamental news coming out almost daily. Intel beat Wall Street's estimates for the second quarter,...